Barely A Memory
by ImpossibleLoves
Summary: "I love you, Stefan. We'll be together again, I promise."
1. Home Again

**Just a very, very small piece of Steferine. This is my version of what should happen right after 4x18 ;) Prom -will- be included eventually!**

* * *

"_But what kind of heart doesn't look back?"_

'_Breathe Again' - Sara Bareilles_

* * *

_Chicago, 1987_

The crowd was raging. Hands were high in the air and headlights flashed over exuberantly twitching bodies. Jon Bon Jovi was doing a guitar solo while practically screaming into the microphone. His husky voice filled the concert hall and electrified everything.

Skilfully Katherine pushed her way through the sweaty surge of people. Many guys and even the one or other girl stopped their dancing for a second to gape at her, captivated by her striking beauty, but she didn't pay any attention to them.

There was only one reason she was here tonight.

As she finally spotted him, singing along to Livin' On A Prayer only two arm's lengths away from her, it felt like her entire body started to calm down at the simple sight of him.

She was home again.

Stefan didn't notice her of course. He couldn't. If he did, if he knew she was still alive, he would most likely tell Damon and the rumour of her return would spread itself out until some intermediary eventually told Klaus himself about it.

She had already taken a huge risk by coming here but she just had to see him. It had been too long since she had checked on him last and not being with him physically hurt her.

She watched him moving in time to the beat of the music, leaning closer to his blonde friend and laughing about something she said. Her heart tightened.

In this precise moment she would've given everything to change places with that Lexi girl and be at his side, even if it was just for the time being. She needed to hear his soft voice, needed to feel his piercing eyes on her. She wanted to be the reason why he was smiling.

She wanted to make him happy.

Katherine swallowed hard.

"I haven't forgotten my promise, Stefan", she whispered so quietly that he wouldn't be able to understand her even with his supernatural sense of hearing. "We _will_ be together. You'll see."

Dying with thirst she soaked up every precious detail of him and branded it on her memory.

Then she reluctantly sheared away from his perfect appearance. It was even harder to leave him than the last time. Every century, every second without him was so colourless, so empty.

But this wasn't a goodbye. She would see him again.

One bright day in the future.

All she had to do was never giving up.

* * *

_Mystic Falls, present day_

**I talked to my brother. He has agreed to meet you.**

**See you soon, my Katerina**

Katherine looked at Elijah's text for the dozenth time today. Then she took a deep breath before she opened the door of the cab. The driver regarded her outfit with favour, the short, tight mini dress and her long, tanned legs, and she snapped her fingers to get him to stop staring at her in that certain way.

"That's not for you, Mister."

Instead of asking him to help her with carrying the luggage, she took her suitcase in her own hands and dragged it up the stairs to the hotel room Elijah had booked for her. She would have preferred to stay at his place but both of them had agreed that it was better not to push Klaus' patience too far. That he was currently tolerating her in Mystic Falls because she surrendered the cure to him didn't automatically mean he wanted to run into her in the bathroom every morning, too.

She got the keys out from her pocket and opened the door. The apartment was basic, simple and tidy - everything she was not, which was why she immediately felt comfortable here.

Before she even had the chance to unpack, her phone started ringing.

The number calling belonged to Elijah. She hesitated three seconds before she answered with a teasing tone. "And how can I help you today, Mr Mikaelson?"

She heard him chuckle. "With accepting my dinner invitation. I want to take you out, Katerina."

As much as she appreciated how he had been there for her in the past months, as much annoyed was she now that he was intervening with what she had in mind for the evening.  
Her brain was working quickly, then she found a solution to not snub his pride _and_ stick to her original plan at the same time. "How about we meet at the Mystic Grill in an hour? I hear their steaks are delicious."

"I would have actually preferred something Italian...", he started protesting but she interrupted him straightaway. "Perfect then. See you there!"

She ended the phone call before Elijah could come up with any further struggling against her decision. Keeping him in leading-strings was much easier than she had imagined.  
He full-heartedly believed her sweet looks and her love confessions and the strong way he reacted to them made her feel almost ashamed of the way she was playing him to her advantage.  
But then again, all of this wasn't entirely her fault. She needed to achieve Klaus' forgiveness, even if for a short term only. And the end justified the means.  
The time had finally come for her to make good on a promise she had once given to someone.  
And she would start working on it tonight.

* * *

**I know this isn't much and I'm so sorry but I'm too tired to continue right now. If you like it and you want me to, I'll upload the next part tomorrow, together with a better description!**


	2. Forever

_"Home again, back where it all began  
All I see is seasons of you and me"_

'_Love Is A Fire' – Courier_

* * *

_Mystic Falls, present day _

"So Damon and you are still busy with trying to get Elena to voluntarily switch her humanity back on?" Caroline raised her eyebrow in a sceptical way and drew from the drinking straw of her vanilla milk shake. "It's not gonna work."  
"What other options do we have left?" Stefan leaned backwards in the corner booth. "Watching her ruin the relationships to every single person she ever cared about?"

She sighed and examined her best friend. He looked tired, brooding and gloomy and seeing him like that and knowing who was responsible for it made her loath this new Elena even more. "You still care way too much about her. Why not let Damon put up with her bitchiness? She hasn't been exactly lovely to you before she turned her humanity off, remember?"

He grinned a little and she wrinkled her forehead. "What?"

"You're being overprotective again", he teased her. "Clear sign that you're underemployed."  
"I'm actually not – the prom committee is keeping me busy. But ...", she hesitated.

"You miss Tyler", Stefan completed the sentence for her and nodded sympathetically. "Has he answered any of your calls yet?"

Caroline winced. Truth was she hadn't thought about Tyler at all but about another certain hybrid who was stealing himself into her mind way too often lately. But even though she could confide almost everything to Stefan, this was something she better kept hidden from him, at least for now. Talking about her feelings for Klaus made them something she was no longer able to suppress but had to actually come to terms with and she was nowhere near ready for that yet.

"Nope, no news from Tyler so far", she responded and tried to hide her commotion behind a sad face.

But Stefan wasn't even looking at her anymore. His expression was focused on someone behind her shoulder, someone who had apparently just entered the restaurant.

"Now look who we've got here", he whispered. "This evening is just about to get interesting."

* * *

Katherine stepped into the Mystic Grill as if the place belonged to her.

At a very young age already she had learned how important it was to never show fear so whenever she was feeling insecure or nervous, she pretended the very opposite and made a scene. Well aware that everyone's eyes, including Stefan's, were on her, she walked up to the bar with clicking high heels and flowing mane and hopped on to the stool.

"A vodka soda", she ordered without looking at the bartender.  
She had arrived extra early to make sure she had some time left to scan the scene before Elijah arrived.

Just as she had hoped, Stefan was here, sitting only five tables away from her together with Caroline. He was certainly surprised to see her in Mystic Falls … but was he happy, too? At least a little?

Their last encounter hadn't been exactly civilized.

"_You sort of have to question Elijah's impeccable taste if he's friends with you."_

She enjoyed it when he was being sassy like that; it was a new feature on him, something that she didn't remember from his human version. The meaner, the sexier. Yet she wished she would've found any kind of proof that he had missed her over the past year, the same way she had been missing him. But there was absolutely nothing. He was giving her the cold shoulder, pretending like he hardly knew her, like she didn't mean anything to him. Even though the last time they had seen each other, she had helped him to get his humanity back.

Grimly Katherine took a sip of the long drink the bartender placed in front of her on the table.

She would make sure that Stefan was sooner or later forced to give up the façade. She'd make him admit that there was still a part of him that cared about her. That in spite of what he claimed, it wasn't only hate and despise he felt of her.

"Mystic Falls, huh?"

She suppressed a triumphant smile as he turned up at her side all of a sudden and supported himself against the bar. "The last time I checked you helped eliminating a lot of Klaus' hybrids, almost got himself killed and then took the cure away from him – are you sure you're welcome here?"

"You forget that Mystic Falls is my home in a way, too, Stefan", she replied and steadied her head playfully on her hand, facing him next to her. "I have stayed away for too long. I am done with hiding."

"It is not safe for you here, Katherine", he said in an indifferent tone.

Intently she examined his averted profile, the marked jaw-line and his high cheekbones. As always, his beauty distracted her and took her breath away. "Does that mean you are actually worried about me?", she asked with a husky voice.

Stefan turned his head to face her. His hazel-green eyes captured her immediately and her mouth went dry. He was only one arm-length away from her now and it took all the self-control she had to not put out her hand and touch him.

He shoved his body nearer and cornered her at the bar. The wood of the table cut into her back but she hardly felt the pain. She raised her chin and met his mesmerizing gaze.

"I don't know how many times I shall repeat myself, Katherine", he whispered. "I don't care if Klaus is ripping your heart out. I just want you gone."

She had half-expected him to turn her down but with him being physically so close, the rejection was harder to hide and overact. "And I don't know how many times I shall tell you that I don't believe you." She got up and lowered herself on the ground. Since he didn't back away, there was hardly any space left between them now. "You don't really hate me, Stefan. You only wish you could hate me." She smiled seductively. "That's a big difference."  
He didn't respond right away, he simply looked down on her with an unreadable expression and that gave her hope; he might never tell her that she was right but he wasn't denying it either.

"And here I was afraid you'd be impatiently waiting for me to arrive. But I see you've already found company."

Their heads turned at the same time to face Elijah who was climbing the last steps to the elevated bar place. Swiftly Katherine was jostling past Stefan and made her towards her boyfriend to get caught in his arms.

"I've missed you, Katerina." He took her face in his hands and kissed her deeply. He was a man who knew exactly how women liked to be kissed so it wasn't hard for her to endure his public display of affection. Yet she was well aware that Stefan was standing only five metres away and watching them and it made her tense. Could he tell that she was only acting? Would he mind if she wasn't?

When they broke away from each other, Stefan had presumptuously finished her drink and winked Caroline who was still sitting at their table to join them.

Katherine silently huffed at the pretty blonde coming over to them. She never really knew how to behave around girls and she hated female competition.

"Good to see you, Stefan. Caroline." Elijah gave them a nod, his hand possessively around her waist. "At any other day I'd invite you two to have a drink with us but given the fact that Katerina and I haven't seen each other in a long time, we'd like to have some privacy for now."

"That's too bad." Caroline pouted. "Since we were just about to invite you to play a round of pool with us."

Katherine's eyes darted to Stefan. He pulled a long face that made more than clear he had no intention of inviting them to anything whatsoever, which meant this was solely Caroline's idea. What was the blonde baby vampire up to?

"Ahh, I'm afraid I've never played it before..." Elijah was clearly torn between being polite and accepting their offer or being honest and telling them to get lost.

"Not a problem, I'll teach you." Caroline fluttered her eyelashes. "It'll be just a quick game between old friends, I promise. Stefan will pull us all over the barrel in no matter of time anyway, he's a pro at this."  
Elijah sighed heavily. "Alright then, one game. It is quite hard to chip you off."  
"Thank you", Caroline smiled, even though his last statement hadn't been entirely a compliment. She linked arms with Stefan and pulled him towards the back of the Grill where the billiard tables, dartboards and gaming machines were placed.

Katherine wanted to follow them but Elijah held her back.

"Just to be clear", he spoke into her ear. "I'm not a lovesick fool. I know you and Stefan ... used to be more than 'old friends' once. If I should start to get the impression that what brought you here is not only to achieve my brother's forgiveness but actually to get _him_ back, I won't be very pleased." He stroke her hair. "Do you understand me, Katerina?"

Reluctantly she escaped from his grip.  
"Careful, Elijah", she hid her concern behind a smile. "The jealous-boyfriend-look doesn't suit you very much. But you don't have to be worried: Stefan and I aren't even friends anymore."

* * *

_Mystic Falls, 1864_

"Friends then, Miss Katherine?"

With a loud and jolly laugh she ran away from him through the high hedges of the Salvatore garden. Her footfalls grated on the widespread gravel and the ample skirts of her dress almost became entangled in the branches.

She enjoyed nothing more than the excitement of getting chased by someone she actually didn't mind to be captured by at all. The wind was in her hair and the sun on her face and she realized she had never felt as free before as in this precise moment.

On the fresh mowed meadow, Stefan caught up with her and cut her so masterfully off that she stumbled and fell. Before her body could hit the hard ground, he absorbed her weight with his own and she landed smoothly and unharmed on him.

Out of breath Katherine looked down at him. "I'm not sure I can be friends with a cheater, Mr Salvatore."

He rolled them over so that he was on top of her now but shifted his heft so that he didn't crush her. "How many times do I have to ask you to call me Stefan?"  
She smiled hesitating. Then she reached out with her fingers and touched his face dreamily. "Stefan", she spoke gently.

He closed his eyes for a second to appreciate the tender contact. When he opened them again, the full force of his green look hit her. "Your skin is so soft."

She said nothing in response, only slipped her hand her and they became intertwined, warmth and cold mixed.

"I could lie here with you forever." His right started playing with her brown curls. He wrapped a strand of her hair around his finger and pulled her teasingly towards him. Sniggering she gave in and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Forever is a very long time, Stefan."

He turned a little so he could face her. "I wouldn't mind spending it by your side."

_If I still had a heart, it would skip a beat now_, she thought and smiled sadly, reminded of all the things he didn't know about her and that she could hardly ever tell him.

He loved the girl she was pretending to be. Not the one she was hiding under this false front.

If she told him that she could offer him forever, he probably wouldn't want to have it, at least not with her.

Stefan frowned as he sensed her mood change. "What is it?"

"Nothing." Quickly she got up and started racing again, to cover up her touch of melancholy. "In for a second round, my friend?"

* * *

**Do you like it if I include some Steferine flashbacks here? If so or if not, let me know :)**


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